June 16, 2017

Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez Found Not Guilty in Shooting Death of Philando Castile

The aftermath of the shooting was streamed live on Facebook.

Demonstrators protest the police shooting death of Philando Castile.Fibonacci Blue/Flickr

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A Minnesota police officer who shot and killed a man during a traffic stop last July was found not guilty of second-degree manslaughter on Friday. The jury also acquitted the St. Anthony police officer, Jeronimo Yanez, of two counts of intentional discharge of a firearm in the death of 32-year-old Philando Castile. Jurors reached their verdict following 29 hours of deliberation, after originally telling the judge that they were deadlocked on all charges. 

Castile’s death made national headlines last summer after his girlfriend broadcast the aftermath of the shooting on Facebook Live. Yanez had pulled over Castile because he incorrectly suspected he may have been a robbery suspect. Castile was legally armed and informed the officer of that fact when he reached for his identification. Prosecutors argued that Yanez then hastily shot Castile after Castile reached for his identification. Attorneys for Yanez said the officer shot Castile after Yanez told him not to reach for his gun and Castile did so anyway.

Castile’s mother reportedly stormed out of the courtroom when the verdict was read. She slammed the verdict in comments to press outside the courthouse:

Castile’s shooting last July followed the shooting by police of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, earlier that same week. The men’s death touched off a new wave of Black Lives Matter protests across the nation. The day after Castile’s death, five police officers were shot at a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas. The shooter, Micah Johnson, said he acted in retaliation for killings of black men by police officers, police officials said. Johnson was subsequently killed by police.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

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